According to Jacobus, "She was not named Ware, as by misreading is often falsely stated."[1] In his 1875 Pond family genealogy[2], Daniel Streator Pond concurred that her last name at birth was unknown.
Birth and parentage are not documented
There are no known sources documenting Sarah's year of birth or parentage. As just noted, authortiative sources have concluded that her last name at birth is unknown. From the fact that her first known child was born in 1646, we can infer that she was probably born before 1630 and was thus probably born in England.
In addition, two unnamed children born to the couple died in Windsor in 1647.[21]
"Samuel Pond dyed March 14 1654[22], intestate. Left behaynd him Sara his wife.".[23][24] The children's names and ages are listed at the bottom of the inventory included in Samuel's probate records:
Isack - 8 years
Samuel - 5 years
Nathaniel - 3 1/4 years
Sara - 2 years and a month
Sarah, a widow roughly 30 years of age, was then confronted with how to provide for herself and 4 young children - having been left by her late husband with an estate valued at £129 (see previous reference).
What is known of the subsequent fates of Nathaniel Pond (1651-1675) and Isaac Pond (abt.1645-1669) comes mostly from testimony recorded during the 1677 sodomy trial of Nicholas Sension, a wealthy Windsor landowner.[25] The testimony documents that the brothers remained in Windsor where Nathaniel, "... in his orphan state ...", worked as an indentured servant to Nicholas Sension. While Nathaniel had complained of his master's sexual advances, he turned down an offer to be liberated from Sension. By 1677 when the sodomy trial took place, both brothers had died before their 25th birthdays -- Nathaniel being kiiled in the "great swamp fight" against the Narragansetts during King Philip's War.[26]
Second marriage and children
Sarah then married John Linsley II (1620-bef.1698) of Branford (previously referred to as "Toket") in 1655[27][28][29][30] or 1656.[31][32] The difference in the recorded year of the marriage could have resulted from a 1655 marriage in Windsor (according to Welles) being later registered in Branford in 1656 (according to Bailey). It should be noted that Branford was then part of the separate colony of New Haven. The names of John and his brother Francis were both included on a 1646 list of the 37 original planters of Branford.[33]
John was himself a widower, also with 4 young children. Available sources indicate that Sarah took with her to Branford only two of her four children -- Samuel Pond (1648-1718) and Sarah (Pond) Hoyt (1652-1676).
Jacobus summarized evidence that John Linsley likewise kept only two of his four children by his first wife. Evidence suggests that his two youngest daughters grew up on Long Island.[34]
Sarah and John had at least 2 children, both born in Branford and both died as young children:
Benjamin, b. 10 Jul 1656[35]; d. 29 Mar 1660[36][37]
Elesebeth, b. 18 Jun 1658[38]; d. 11 Jul 1659[39][40]
Death
Sarah died sometime before the death of her second husband about 1698.[41] The movable property of John's estate was inventoried by her son Samuel Pond and valued at less than £20. John Linsly IV, son of Sarah's step-son John Linsley III, served as administrator of the estate, distributing the moveable properties between Mary and Hannah -- the only two surviving children of John Linsley II.
Sources
↑ Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Ancient New Haven, Vol 5 & 6 (Rome: Clarence D. Smith, 1929); images of pp. 1453-54 at InternetArchive.org."She was not named Ware, as by misreading is often falsely stated."
↑ "Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPMC-WLVF : 15 April 2022), Samuell Pond in entry for Sara, 18 Nov 1642; citing Marriage, Windsor, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America, Compiled by Lucius A. and Lucius B. Barbour, housed at State Library, Hartford, Connecticut; FHL microfilm 008272251.
↑ Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Ancient New Haven, Vol 5 & 6 (Rome: Clarence D. Smith, 1929); images of p. 1454 at InternetArchive.org.
↑ "Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPMC-WLVF : 15 April 2022), Samuell Pond in entry for Sara, 18 Nov 1642; citing Marriage, Windsor, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America, Compiled by Lucius A. and Lucius B. Barbour, housed at State Library, Hartford, Connecticut; FHL microfilm 008272251.
↑ "Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPSK-YKXJ : 15 April 2022), Isaac Pond in entry for Hannah Griffin, ; citing Marriage, Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut, United States, Compiled by Lucius A. and Lucius B. Barbour, housed at State Library, Hartford, Connecticut; FHL microfilm 008272232.
↑ Early Connecticut Marriages as found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800, by Frederick W. BAILEY, Vol 2, 1896 (http://dunhamwilcox.net/ct/branford_newhav_marr.htm) "Samuel Pond & Mirriam Blatchley married 5 Jan 1669 by Rev. Abraham Pierson"
↑ New Haven (Conn.) probate records. Probate records v. 3-4 1703-1719. Image 471 of 502 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L92K-G9ZT-V) He mentions his wife Miriam. He mentions his sons, Samuel, Moses, Josiah & Nathaniel (deceased). Daughters: Abigail, wife of Isaac Tyler, Lois, Miriam & Mindwell.
↑ Welles, Edwin. Births, Marriages, and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor, and Fairfield, and Entered in the Early Land Records of the Colony of Connecticut. Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1898. (https://books.google.com/books?id=0woWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA28)
↑ Welles, Edwin Stanley (ed.) Births, Marriages, and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor, and Fairfield, and Entered in the Early Land Records of the Colony of Connecticut: Volumes I and II of Land Records and No. D of Colonial Deeds. (Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1898) Page 43. (https://books.google.com/books?id=0woWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA43#v=onepage&q&f=false).
↑ Godbeer, Richard, and Douglas L. Winiarski, eds. "The Sodomy Trial of Nicholas Sension, 1677: Documents and Teaching Guide." Early American Studies 12, no. 2 (Spring 2014): 402-43. (https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=religiousstudies-faculty-publications) Witnesses at the trial testified that "Isaac Pond, the elder brother of Nathaniel Pond who lived with Goodman Sension" had reported some years previously that Nathaniel had complained about "his master Sension's grossly lascivious miscarriages towards him." Another witness testified to having observed Sension attempt to have sex with Nathaniel. Another witness had spoken with Sension about this behavior and encouraged Nathaniel to be freed from his indentureship to Sension. Nathanial had replied, however, that he chose not to leave Sension "being the man that brought him up from a child in his orphan's state ..."
↑ Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Ancient New Haven, Vol 5 & 6 (Rome: Clarence D. Smith, 1929); images of pp. 1453-54 at InternetArchive.org."She was not named Ware, as by misreading is often falsely stated."
↑ Welles, Edwin Stanley (ed.) Births, Marriages, and Deaths Returned from Hartford, Windsor, and Fairfield, and Entered in the Early Land Records of the Colony of Connecticut: Volumes I and II of Land Records and No. D of Colonial Deeds. (Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard Company, 1898) Page 42. (https://books.google.com/books?id=0woWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA42#v=onepage&q&f=false).
↑ Jacobus, Donald Lines. "Barnes Families of Eastern Long Island and Branford, Conn." Genealogies of Connecticut Families: From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 1. Genealogical Publishing Com, 1983. Page 92 (https://books.google.ca/books?id=k6fDl9gE45IC&q=Linsley#v=onepage&q=Linsley&f=false ). "The two younger children, by the first wife Elllen [Mary age 3 and Hannah age 1] very probably were raised by a relative, not of the Linsley name, in East Hampton, L.I."
↑ "Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP32-JSJR : 15 April 2022), John in entry for Beniamin Linsly, ; citing Death, Branford, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, Compiled by Lucius A. and Lucius B. Barbour, housed at State Library, Hartford, Connecticut; FHL microfilm 007833262.
↑ "Connecticut, Vital Records, Prior to 1850," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPSX-5FBC : 15 April 2022), John in entry for Elesebeth Linsly, ; citing Death, Branford, New Haven, Connecticut, United States, Compiled by Lucius A. and Lucius B. Barbour, housed at State Library, Hartford, Connecticut; FHL microfilm 007833262.
↑ “New Haven Probate Records, Vol. 1-2, 1647-1703”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L92K-G9J3-9 : 15 March 2021), New Haven, Connecticut, FHL microfilm 007626739, image 387-388. New Haven Probate Record, 1668-1703, Vol. 2, Part 2, page 219-220.
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What is the source for her specific birth date and location?
Edited to add: Also, very reliable sources show that her last name at birth was not known, and they specfically state it was not Ware. Are there reliable sources that can be added to her profile showing her last name of Ware? If not, would you please change it to Unknown?
It was around the time that Sarah re-married to John Lindsley (who had moved to Branford when first settled in 1644) that her son Samuel Pond (1648-1718) must have also relocated to Branford. The same was probably true for Sarah (Pond) Hoyt (1652-1676) (who also died in Branford).
Thus Sarah's need for a step-father for her young children may have been the main reason that this branch of the Ponds settled in Branford for the next 100 years.
And what of son's Nathaniel and Isaac? The widow Sarah took with her only two of her four children -- not including Nathaniel or his older brother Isaac, then age 8. What we know of their subsequent fate in Windsor comes from testimony given during the 1677 trial of Nicholas Sension for sodomy. Nathaniel (barely 5 years old when his mother re-married and moved away from Windsor) was made an indentured servant of Nicholas Sension -- a fairly wealthy and influential married but childless man in Windsor. At the trial, a series of Windsor residents testified that Nicholas Sension attempted to have sex with Nathaniel and/or themselves - when the reported victims were 17 years of age or older. One witness testified that Nicholas' brother Isaac (who had died some years earlier at age 22) had reported instances of such sexual harassment. Sodomy was a capital offense in Connecticut. Yet, based on the testimony the jury found Nicholas Sension guilty of only attempted sodomy. His property was held in bond to assure the propriety of his future behavior. Nicholas Sension died 12 years later. For a detailed account of the trial, see The Sodomy Trial of Nicholas Sension: Documents and Teaching Guide, Richard Godbeer and Douglas L. Winiarski
( https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=religiousstudies-faculty-publications )
As for Nathaniel, by the time of the trial he had died on 19 December 1675 during the Great Swamp FIght against the Narragansett indians.
Edited to add: Also, very reliable sources show that her last name at birth was not known, and they specfically state it was not Ware. Are there reliable sources that can be added to her profile showing her last name of Ware? If not, would you please change it to Unknown?
edited by S (Hill) Willson
Thus Sarah's need for a step-father for her young children may have been the main reason that this branch of the Ponds settled in Branford for the next 100 years.
And what of son's Nathaniel and Isaac? The widow Sarah took with her only two of her four children -- not including Nathaniel or his older brother Isaac, then age 8. What we know of their subsequent fate in Windsor comes from testimony given during the 1677 trial of Nicholas Sension for sodomy. Nathaniel (barely 5 years old when his mother re-married and moved away from Windsor) was made an indentured servant of Nicholas Sension -- a fairly wealthy and influential married but childless man in Windsor. At the trial, a series of Windsor residents testified that Nicholas Sension attempted to have sex with Nathaniel and/or themselves - when the reported victims were 17 years of age or older. One witness testified that Nicholas' brother Isaac (who had died some years earlier at age 22) had reported instances of such sexual harassment. Sodomy was a capital offense in Connecticut. Yet, based on the testimony the jury found Nicholas Sension guilty of only attempted sodomy. His property was held in bond to assure the propriety of his future behavior. Nicholas Sension died 12 years later. For a detailed account of the trial, see The Sodomy Trial of Nicholas Sension: Documents and Teaching Guide, Richard Godbeer and Douglas L. Winiarski ( https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=religiousstudies-faculty-publications )
As for Nathaniel, by the time of the trial he had died on 19 December 1675 during the Great Swamp FIght against the Narragansett indians.
edited by Bob Pond